Love and Lightning
by LoveIsARose
Summary: (It's one of the 'Lucy gets replaced by Lisanna' clichés. I decided to give it a shot) Team Natsu replaces Lucy with Lisanna. Lucy decides to leave so she can train. Along the way, she bumps into Laxus and she ends up travelling with him. Then, Yukino joins them. How will things turn out?
1. Chapter 1

**This is a new Lalu story I started. Sorry, but I may not be able to work on my other story as much because I'm writing several other stories (that aren't on fan fic) too. Anyways, I decided to use a "Lisanna comes back and replaces Lucy" cliche. I hope you'll like this.**

* * *

The guild had finally finished their week long party for Lisanna's "revival from the dead." Over the 7 day celebration, Lucy had become great friends with Lisanna. At the moment, she was sitting at a table talking to Lisanna like they were old buddies. Natsu, Grey, and Erza walked up to Lucy.

"Hey, Lucy!" Natsu greeted. Lucy smiled in response. He continued, "Um, do you think Lisanna could take your place on the team? I mean, since she's back after two years and all. You can take this chance to train and stuff and you also don't need to worry about losing any reward money." Grey and Erza nodded in agreement.

This totally caught Lucy off guard. She shot a quick glance at Lisanna, but her face displayed confusion. Seeing Natsu's eager expression along with Grey's and Erza's hopeful gazes, she couldn't say no. Lucy plastered a smile on her face and said, "Sure, go for it!"

Natsu cheered and exclaimed, "Yosh! Thanks, Lucy!" He grabbed Lisanna's arm and said, "Come on, let's go pick a job!" Erza and Grey followed after them, casting Lucy one last look before choosing a job.

Knowing that she'd create a spectacle if she ran home right now, Lucy chose to stay for the rest of the day at the guild. She walked over to Mira and requested, "Can I have a strawberry smoothie, please?" Mira nodded and brought a tall glass filled to the top to Lucy. She set it down and asked, "Why aren't you going along with Team Natsu right now?" Mira eyed the noisy bunch that was just leaving the guild.

Lucy just sighed and replied, "Lisanna took my place. But no big deal, really." But the truth was, sadness was filling up inside of her. "Are you sure you're all right?" Mira asked worriedly. Lucy faked a smile and nodded. Finishing her smoothie, she said, "Thanks for the drink, Mira," and walked over to the table where Levy and Cana were sitting.

"Hey, guys!" she greeted (fake) cheerfully.

"Hello, Lucy," they replied in unison. "Why aren't you with Team Natsu?" Levy asked. Lucy didn't like answering that question. "Lisanna took my place," she said for the second time. Levy looked down at the table. "Oh. I'm sorry Lu-chan," she sympathized. Lucy shook her head, rejecting the sorry. "Don't worry, I'm fine," she assured.

Cana suddenly snapped her fingers. "I know what will make you feel better!" she exclaimed. Lucy rose an eyebrow and was going to say that she didn't need any comfort. "Fortune telling!" Cana continued, grabbing her deck of magical cards and spreading them out on the table. "Pick one," she instructed.

Lucy stared at the cards for about ten seconds before picking a random one near the left. Cana took the the card intently stared at the the card before saying, "Some one who is blond will become a big part of your life tomorrow."

"Huh?" was the only reply Lucy could make. Cana just shrugged and said, "That's all the card reveals. It doesn't give any more details." Levy appeared to be in deep thought, most likely thinking about who Lucy's special blond might be.

Lucy stood up and said, "Well, I guess I'll find out who the mystery blond is tomorrow. Bye!" Cana and Levy waved goodbye as Lucy made her way to Master Makarov's office.

When she entered the room, she closed the door behind her quietly. "Master," Lucy said softly. "Can I leave Fairy Tail for a few years so I can train? I promise I'll be back." Makarov stared at her, wide-eyed. "Lucy, my child," he whispered. His mind was in a jumble, trying to think of ways to make Lucy stay.

But Lucy begged, "Please, Master, please. I swear I'll come back. I really will. I'm just leaving to train for a few years. That's all. Please!" Makarov took in a deep breath, and then said, "Are you absolutely sure this is what you want?" Lucy nodded.

Sighing again, Makarov sadly spoke, "Very well, my child. Please try keeping your guild mark covered while you train." Lucy collapsed onto her knees and started repeating, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you."

After all the thanks, Lucy stood up and left the master's office, turning around once more and bowing before she walked our the door. When the door closed, Makarov whispered, "Come back soon, Lucy."

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**So, what you you think? Please review :3 Sorry that it was a bit short. I'll try to make longer chapters. Bye! :D**

**-LoveIsARose**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi! The only reason this was published so soon was because I was already almost done with it when I published the first one. Chapters after this one won't come as quickly. School is causing a huge impact on my publishing speed, too. I'm sorry!**

**Here are some replies to reviews:**

**Sase-chan: I agree, I did go a bit fast in chapter one. I'll try to slow down a bit. Sorry about that. **

**Archangel-Angelo: You are completely right. I should have done that. Thanks for telling me! **

**angelg0722: I don't think I'll make her so amazing like some legendary mage as you sort of described (I am NOT trying to offend you). But yes, I will most likely make her a lot stronger and have more powers. I probably won't make it too sudden, though. It'll take some time for Lucy to become more powerful. I do like your ideas, though, don't get me wrong.**

**And to all my other reviewers: Thank you so much for your enthusiasm! I'm sorry I couldn't reply to your reviews!**

**And finally, after all my blabbing, Chapter 2!**

* * *

Lucy walked on the stony of the road, next to the river. As always, boaters who were passing by said, "Be careful, Lucy!" Plue, her trustworthy companion, was walking along beside her. "Puuun, puuuuuuuun!" he exclaimed.

Lucy giggled, and said, "I take that as a, 'Lucy, you're so awesome!' Okay, Plue. You can go back to the spirit world now." She sent Plue back and continued balancing on the edge until she reached her apartment.

When Lucy entered her apartment, she collapsed onto her bed. That's when her tears started falling. "Why..." she sobbed. "Oh, Natsu, you jerk!" Why did she have to get replaced? Why was she so weak? After much sniffling, she finally cried herself to sleep.

The next morning, Lucy woke up at 5:00 a.m. and yawned. Red, puffy eyes stared back at her when she looked in the mirror. "Great," she muttered to herself. "This is what you get for crying yourself to sleep, Lucy." She splashed her face with cold water to get rid of her swollen eyes.

When Lucy finally got her disfigured face to look normal, she walked into her bedroom and opened her wardrobe. She pulled out a pink ruffle-layered tank top and a pair of blue short shorts. Instead of wearing her usual brown combat boots, she chose to wear white platform sandals. Lastly, she pulled up a section of her blonde hair to the side and tied it with a white ribbon.

After she wore her outfit, she started preparing a suitcase for training. Lucy stuffed clothes, toiletries, snacks and non-perishable food, and 500,000 jewels into her pink suitcase. She then called the landlady so that she could put her room on hold. And of course, she attached her whip and keys to her belt.

Just before Lucy left her home, she remembered what Master told her about hiding her guild mark. She rushed back into her bedroom and pulled out a white fingerless glove from a drawer and put it on. Also, before leaving, Lucy decided to write a letter to Fairy Tail.

_Dear Fairy Tail,_  
_By the time you read this letter, I'll probably already be gone. I've left to train for a few years. But don't worry. I promise I'll be back. Here are some personal messages I've left for specific people:_

_Levy - I'm sorry I left without telling you, but it was for the best. Good luck with Gajeel! ;)_

_Wendy - Thanks for healing me countless times. You've always been so kind to me._

_Gray - You've always been and always will be a great friend. That stripping habit of yours had better be gone when I get back._

_Erza - You are like a sister to me. I hope that you'll be able to reunite with Jellal. Try not to beat too many people up!_

_Happy - Even though you can be a bit annoying, I'll still miss you. I hope things will go well with Carla and you._

_Lisanna - If you even THINK that it's your fault that I'm gone, I'll kill you when I get back. Leaving was my own choice._

_Natsu - Try not to destroy Magnolia while I'm away. Also, do me a favor and become a couple with Lisanna. I'm sure she'll agree with this choice too. Oh, and don't worry. You're still my best friend._

_Love,_  
_ Lucy_

Now that she was sure that she was finally set, she left her apartment.

When she reached the train station, Lucy bought a ticket to Red Cedar Village, a small place but had excellent magic-shops. She walked into the train and slumped down into the soft cushions of the train seat. Leaning her head against the window, she slowly drifted to sleep.

Five hours later...

"RED CEDAR VILLAGE! ALL PASSENGERS AT THIS STOP MUST GET OFF THE TRAIN NOW!" a voice on the announcement system boomed. It startled Lucy awake and luckily, Lucy did not miss her stop. Stepping of the train, she inhaled deeply, and exhaled saying, "Ahhh... Red Cedar Village... I'm finally here!"

She walked around the village, looking for a shop that sold items for celestial mages. Lucy wanted to buy a celestial whip, a very powerful whip that only celestial mages could use. The best part was, it wasn't able to hurt its owner. Lucy couldn't count how many times her own whip had retracted on her and hit her along with the enemy.

She squealed at the thought of having the celestial whip, ignoring the strange looks people were giving her. Finally, Lucy spotted a shop called "Stellar Wishes." She walked in, hoping that a celestial whip would be available. To her luck, it was. Bringing to the counter, she asked, "How much is this celestial whip?"

"70,000 jewels," the cashier said, sounding extremely bored. Lucy nearly fainted. 70,000 jewels?! That was the same amount as her apartment rent! Since the cashier was a woman, their was no way Lucy could use her sex appeal on her. Sighing, Lucy pulled out her wallet and paid for the whip.

Something sparkly caught her eye. A white belt lined with silver rhinestones was dangling from a hook. The price tag said, "1,000 jewels." Lucy immediately grabbed it and paid for that too.

As soon as she walked out of the shop, she slapped forehead. "Bad Lucy!" she scolded herself. She'd already used up 71,000 jewels on her first day here! But happy that she got new items, her frustration was quickly replaced with delight.

Lucy switched her drab brown belt with the new white and silver one she just purchased. Then she put her keys and the key holder on the belt, and then her normal whip. Instead of attaching the new whip too, she kept holding on to it.

She walked into Red Cedar Forest, which surrounded the village, where she planned to start training. Once she found a decent sized boulder, she unleashed her new whip from its coil. The celestial whip was a shimmering gold. Lucy heard that it glowed when the owner added his or her own magic into it to make it stronger. Trying it, the whip started shining brightly.

Lucy smiled, and lashed her whip at the boulder. There was a very loud slapping noise that echoed throughout the trees. At first, the boulder was exactly the same. Lucy was about to complain that the whip was a lousy fake, when the boulder crumbled into thousands of pieces.

Since Lucy was all alone, she jumped up and shouted, "YESSSS! IT WORKED!" Suddenly, there rustling in bushes. She grabbed her whip and got ready to strike. But instead of a wild beast, Laxus appeared. "Oi, what the hell is that loud, obnoxious noise?" he complained.

Bewildered, Lucy stammered, "Laxus, w-what are you d-doing here? Why aren't you at the guild?"

"I could ask the same for you," Laxus replied. "Besides, why would I be at that garbage dump of a guild? I'm too good to be hanging out with those weaklings."

It angered Lucy to hear such insults to Fairy Tail from one of its own members. But then again, it was Laxus speaking. "Well, what are you doing here?" Lucy repeated.

Laxus snorted, and said, "Nosy much, aren't we?" Lucy stomped her foot and started, "You-"

But Laxus put his hand up to stop her. "Relax, blondie," he said. "I'm just here for a mission. There's gang of thugs in this forest that is robbing the shops. This lame request shouldn't be on the S-class board."

"Can I tag along with you?" Lucy asked. She was sure that Laxus would refuse, and was correct when he answered, "Che. No way, blondie."

Lucy clenched her fists and shot back, "Hey! You're blonde too!" Her angry expression changed into a puppy dog one, and she started begging, "Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeease?"

"NO."

"PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE?"

NO!"

"PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEASE?"

"NOOO!"

"PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EASE?"

"FINE! Just so you'll shut up!"

Lucy jumped up into the air and cheered. Laxus only grunted. They walked deeper into the forest, when Laxus suddenly asked, "By the way, why aren't you with that lousy team of yours?"

Lucy looked down at her feet and mumbled, "They aren't my team anymore. They replaced me with Lisanna."

"Oh."

They walked in silence until they heard rustling in the bushes. Lucy grabbed the handle of her whip. They waited for something to pop out, but nothing did. Lucy and Laxus continued walking, when suddenly there was a huge explosion of smoke and they were surrounded by a group of men dressed in black.

"Damn," Laxus muttered under his breath. "It's the thugs." He shot lightning bolts at several of them. The thugs pulled out weapons ranging from daggers to guns. A gun bullet whizzed passed Laxus's head, only an inch away from his ear. They may have not been magical, but they were great fighters. He turned to see how Lucy was doing.

She was currently using her whip and Sagittarius was shooting arrows at the enemies. One bullet shot through Sagittarius, sending him back to the spirit world. Lucy called out Virgo next to assist her.

Laxus dodged the sharp tips of several daggers and shot lightning at those who tried attacking him. After knocking out a few more thugs, he sent another glance towards Lucy. She was wildly swinging her whip around, nearly hitting Laxus in the process.

"Oi!" he yelled. "Be more careful, blondie! You almost hit me with that stupid whip of yours!" Lucy puffed her cheeks at him, and shouted back, "Well, maybe I wanted to hit you because you're such an idiot!" The two growled at each other before fighting the thugs again.

About half an hour later, all the thugs were down. Lucy was bent over and panting. Her clothes were slightly damp from sweat.

"Che," Laxus said. "I haven't even broken a sweat."

Lucy looked at Laxus angrily. "Shut up!" she growled. "All you did was point your finger at the thugs and random lightning bolts came down from the sky!"

Laxus just snickered and started tying the thugs up. Lucy began wrapping a rope around one of the thugs when he suddenly snapped his eyes open. He whipped a knife and stabbed Lucy in the stomach. Lucy doubled over in pain, clutching her wound. Blood was rapidly seeping through her clothes.

The thug tried making a run for it after his surprise attack but failed. Laxus fried him with lightning and rushed over to Lucy. She was sprawled on this ground, breathing shallowly. "Damn it!" Laxus cursed. He picked Lucy up bridal style and started running to the main village.

While running, Laxus took his cell phone out and called the village police to take care of the rest of the thugs. Lucy moved her head slughtly. "La... Laxus?" she murmured. "I... can't feel... my body. And everything... is turning ... white."

Laxus quickened his pace. "Don't worry," he assured. "I'll bring you to the hospital soon. Just hang in there." After what seemed like days of running, Laxus finally brought Lucy to the emergency room. The nurses told him to wait in the waiting room for about an hour.

Laxus collapsed in one of the waiting room chairs. He wrung his hands nervously. He suddenly wondered why he was so worried about Lucy. Laxus decided it was because Gramps would kill him if he left Lucy to die. Yes, that was it.

He sat and waited patiently. Later, a nurse came out and said, "Laxus Dreyar, you may come and see Lucy Heartfilia now." Laxus nearly flew out of his chair and followed the nurse to a room. When he walked in, he saw Lucy, unconscious. There were needles inserted into her arms connected to tubes that led to machines. Layers of bandages were wrapped around her stomach.

"The stab was fairly deep," the nurse said. "But nothing too fatal. She'll have to stay in the hospital for another two days. Once she's out, don't drag her into too much action. She should rest most of the time." Laxus nodded.

Lucy stirred, and her eyes fluttered open. "Where am I?" she asked. The nurse walked over to Lucy and responded, "You're in the hospital. This gentleman," she looked over at Laxus, "brought you here."

Lucy blushed and was about to thank Laxus when he said, "Che, how stupid are you to be able to get stabbed that easily? I coulda dodged that, piece of cake." Lucy's gratitude disappeared. Instead, she was angry. "Well, _excuuuse_me for not being as tough as you," she shot back. "But just you wait. Someday, I'll be strong enough to beat you in battle!"

"Yeah, right. In your dreams, blondie. You'll be able to beat me when hell freezes over."

"You moron!"

"Stupid blondie!"

"You're blonde too!"

"Yeah, but I'm not stupid like you are!"

"Idiot! I'm DEFINITELY smarter than you!"

"You're obviously not. You don't need to pretend."

"_You're_the one who's pretending he's so smart and tough!"

The nurse silently left the room, escaping the bickering mages.

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**So, what did you think? I just LOVE writing argument scenes between Laxus and Lucy (I know, I know, I'm completely weird).**

**I am completely open to constructive criticism. It just makes me better. If you're confused, don't be afraid to ask questions (I sound like a teacher). And of course, comments. I love comments, so leave one for me to read. Do you know what these five sentences (not including this one) I just wrote mean? It means... **

**REVIEW! :3 **

**So, until next time!**

**-LoveIsARose**


	3. Chapter 3

**Moshi moshi, fellow readers! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. School has totally dominated my life D: Also, sorry that this is a short chapter... **

**I'd like to acknowledge XxShyxX and LunaNinjaKitty for being great friends on Fan Fiction. :) **

**Also, I want to thank all my followers, favoriters (I know that's not a word), and reviewers.**

**By the way, don't worry, nikki777, this isn't a Nali story.**

**Well, now that all my babbling is done, please enjoy chapter 3!**

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**_Meanwhile, with the new Team Natsu:_**

"U-um, are you sure it was okay to just replace of Lucy like that?" Lisanna asked. She felt extremely guilty because she was the one who took Lucy's place. Since they were on a train for their job, Natsu was obviously too occupied with his motion sickness to answer. Erza and Gray looked away, as if not really wanting to answer Lisanna's question. Lisanna thought that they might have felt guilty too.

"I guess we should apologize to her once we get back," Gray finally said. Erza nodded in agreement.

Looking for something to do, Lisanna settled her eyes on the job request. Reading it over a second time, it said:

**Request: Defeat the pack of Vulcans in Clover Forest. They have been destroying things throughout Clover Town. **

**Reward: 80,000 jewels**

Lisanna wasn't really one who liked jobs about fighting, but who was she to complain? As a new member of Team Natsu, she decided that she wouldn't whine about the first mission they went on together.

When the train stopped in Clover town, Natsu leapt out of the train and yelled, "Yes! I've been revived!" Gray smirked and said, "You're such a pathetic idiot." Natsu stopped dancing around and turned to Gray. "What did you just call me, ice stripper?" he demanded.

"I called you a pathetic idiot, flame brain."

"You're really begging for a fight, aren't you?"

"Anytime, anywhere."

"IS THERE FIGHTING GOING ON?!"

Natsu and Gray turned to see an extremely dangerous looking Erza. They gulped and answered, "N-no, Erza ma'am! We're just strengthening our already strong bonds!" Erza nodded in approval. "Yes, yes. That is good, then," she said.

The new team Natsu walked into Clover Forest, ready to start their mission.

* * *

_**With Laxus and Lucy...**_

After the nurse left, Laxus and Lucy continued to argue.

"You're such an immature idiot! You're way too full of yourself!" Lucy yelled.

"Talk about yourself! You think you're so smart but you're actually a dumb blonde!" Laxus shouted back.

"Moron! I AM smart and you're blond too, so you have no right to call me that!"

"I have rights for anything I want to do, including what I call you!"

"No you don't! You're just a selfish jerk!"

"Oh, yeah? If I'm a selfish jerk, then you're a stupid shopping freak!"

"I am NOT a stupid shopping freak! It's natural for a girl to go shopping!"

"Not as much as you do!"

"For your information, most girls shop more than I do!"

"Any other lies to tell me?"

"Grr... you moron! I am _not_ lying!"

The two kept yelling unkind words at each other for another ten minutes. When they finally stopped, they ended up giving each other the silent treatment. Because if that, the only sound in the room was the ticking of the clock.

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock..._

Minutes passed.

Several minutes passed.

Many minutes passed.

_How long have we been like this?_ Lucy thought. It felt like it was lasting for ages. The awkward silence was bothering her. She shot a glance at Laxus, only to see that he was looking at her too. They both turned away and said, "Humph."

The same nurse from before walked into the room, obviously shocked from the current silence based on the noise from before. The nurse opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it. Then she opened it again, and finally said, "Um, visiting hours are over. We would like to request that you leave for the day. Thank you." She bowed and exited the room.

Laxus got up from the chair he was sitting in, and started to leave as well. Right before he stepped out of the room, he turned around and said, "See you tomorrow, blondie." An angry vein popped out on her forehead.

"I told you, don't call me bl-" Lucy was cut off by the sound of the door closing. Laxus had already left. She sighed, and muttered, "Laxus, you idiot." Plopping her head down on the hospital bed's soft pillow, Lucy slowly drifted to sleep.

* * *

_**Back to team Natsu...**_

"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"

Flames spread out everywhere, burning down innocent trees. Slowly, the flames started to spread. Unfortunately, Natsu didn't notice.

"FIRE DRAGON'S WING SLASH!"

A wave of flames burned down another row of trees. "Natsu, stop it!" Lisanna yelled. "You're burning the whole forest down!" Natsu paid no heed to what Lisanna was saying. He launched another fire attack and set yet another group of trees on fire.

"NATSU!" Erza bellowed. That stopped Natsu in his tracks. "WE ALREADY DEFEATED THE PACK OF VULCANS! ALL YOU'RE DOING NOW IS BURNING EVERYTHING UP!"

Natsu gulped, and started to look around. "Oh, crap," he muttered under his breath. Erza was releasing a deadly aura. Natsu was about to make a run for it, but Erza knocked him out before he could. "Gray, Lisanna, put out the fire before the whole forest burns down!" Erza commanded. The two obediently did as they were told. Erza threw Natsu on the ground and also started putting out the flames.

About half an hour later, they managed to save the forest. Well, portion of it, that is. Natsu had burned down three-fourths of it. "Damn that Natsu!" Gray cursed. "I'll be surprised if we get any of the reward at all." Erza and Lisanna were also pretty upset about their obviously-going-to-be-reduced reward.

They trudged back to the city hall, knowing they'd be in huge trouble. And they were completely right. "I'm very disappointed in your irresponsible actions!" the mayor scolded. "Honestly, I expected better. Much better. I'm sorry, but I'll have to inform your master about this. Also, since you destroyed three-fourths of Clover Forest, your reward has been decreased to 40,000 jewels." Erza, Gray, and Lisanna all groaned, clearly annoyed at what the still-knocked-out Natsu got them into. But of course, they couldn't argue with the mayor and accepted the fact that Makarov would blow a fuse once they got back to the guild. The team headed toward the train station (Natsu was dragged by Erza because he was still unconscious), all dreading the moment they would get back.

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**Sorry that this is a short chapter... Not much happened either... Sorry! D:**

**I'll try to add more action next chapter... I'm just having a minor writer's block... (shame on me!)**

**Nevertheless...**

**REVIEW :3**

**I am completely open to constructive criticism, just please don't be rude.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Wow! This is my fastest update yet! (Although there probably won't be any more this fast...) Anyway, I have something to say. The beginning of my story makes the story take place after the Edolas arc when Lisanna comes back. I wrote that when I didn't really have much of this story figured out yet. But now, this story is supposed to take place after the Grand Magic Games. So please pretend that Lucy was replaced by Lisanna after the games. Also, I'm adding Yukino into this story, so pretend that there is no eclipse project... Long story made short: I'm making my own plot that does not match up with the actual manga, so please go along with it.**

**All right, my boring talking is done. Please enjoy chapter 4! **

* * *

_**At the Guild...**_

Makarov was pervertedly viewing ecchi pictures from his secret stash of naughty magazines. "Ohohoho..." he cooed when he saw a particularly revealing photo. Flipping each page, he savored every detail of the pictures. When he reached the back page, he gasped. What did he see? He saw a notice on the back page saying that his subscription to _Extreme Ecchi_was almost over. Makarov leafed through the magazine pages, frantically searching for a subscription extension form. He sighed in relief when he found the said form hidden along the pages and started filling it out. A knock on his office door startled him and he quickly stuffed his pile of magazines under his desk and said, "Come in."

Mira peeked into Makarov's office and said, "You have a letter, Master." Then she noticed the form on Makarov's desk. "What's that?" she asked. Makarov coughed, and then answered, "O-oh, th-that? Th-that's just a s-subscription extension f-form for _S-sorcerer Weekly_!" Mira raised her eyebrows, clearly not believing Makarov's reply, but dismissed she the topic. "Anyway, you have a letter, Master." She handed him a letter addressed from the mayor of Clover Town. Makarov thanked her and Mira left his office. He opened the letter, wondering what it was about.

By the time he finished reading it, demonic aura surrounded him. He heard he guild doors slam open and Natsu's yelling, "We're back!" Makarov muttered, "Perfect timing," and walked out of his office to punish Natsu. When he got into the guild hall, he increased his size. Gray, Erza, and Lisanna edged away, knowing what their master was about to do. Natsu, however, was completely oblivious to what was happening. That is, until a huge shadow looked over him. Natsu looked up and was instantly greeted with a humungous fist, smashing him to the floor.

"YOU BRAT!" Makarov shouted. "ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE OUR GUILD LOOK BAD?!" Natsu could not answer, for he was being smashed to death by Makarov's angry fist. "WELL?! ANSWER ME! WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD DESTROY ALMOST A WHOLE FOREST?!" Other guild members stared as Makarov was practically killing Natsu. Luckily, Mirajane was there to save his life. "Master," she said in a low voice. Makarov instantly stopped and saw what he did to Natsu. "Oops, I guess I got a little carried away," he sheepishly said. Wendy rushed to Natsu and started healing him.

While all this happened, Gray, Erza, and Lisanna snuck out of the guild to apologize to Lucy. They knocked on her apartment door when they reached it. There was no answer, so they knocked again. After waiting for five minutes, they came to the conclusion that Lucy wasn't home. But still, being worry wart friends, they peeked into her room through the window. Her room was dark and looked as if no one was their for a while. Gray's eyes scanned her room, and spotted a letter on her desk. Erza and Lisanna also noticed it.

They entered her room through her window (it wasn't locked) and picked up the letter. Erza read it out loud to the group. Lisanna gasped and covered her face, hiding tears (she was also slightly blushing at the same time because of what Lucy said about being a couple with Natsu). Gray was staring intently at the ground, bangs covering his eyes. Even the tough Erza was having a hard time not crying. The three stood around in an awkward silence, until Erza said, "Let's go to the guild to tell the others about this." Gray and Lisanna could only nod.

When they entered the guild, it was noisy as always. "QUIET!" Erza boomed. Everyone obeyed instantly. "We have bad news. Lucy's gone." That caused a huge uproar. Erza held her hand up to silence everyone once more and continued, "She left us a letter." Erza cleared her throat and read the letter out loud for the second time. "WHAT?!" Natsu screamed when Erza finished reading. Levy and Wendy were crying. Lisanna was too and was also muttering, "It's my fault, it's my fault, it's my fault," over and over again. Everything was chaos, especially Natsu. "WHY DID LUCY LEAVE?!" he shouted.

Gray clenched his fists and yelled, "It's because you replaced her with Lisanna, you dumb ass!" Natsu lunged at Gray, hands lit with fire. The whole guild was crying, fighting, screaming, or doing something that involved chaos. "SILENCE, YOU BRATS!" a voiced roared. Everyone looked up and saw Makarov standing on the balcony. "I know you're all upset, but Lucy promised she'd be back, right? So calm down, all of you."

Natsu yelled, "But-"

"No buts, Natsu," Makarov interrupted. "Even if it's a few years, Lucy will come back. We all know she will." Many were still upset, they all knew Lucy would return. After a while, everyone managed to calm down, but they were all depressed. Lisanna was sitting in the corner, blaming it all on herself. Levy and Wendy comforted her, telling her it wasn't her fault and how Lucy even said it wasn't. Gray and Natsu were fighting each other out of anger. Erza was sitting at the counter, eating cake and telling Mirajane to hit her in Lucy's place. And Happy, much to everyone's surprise, was completely ignoring Carla. Instead, he just sat there, munching on a burnt sardine.

Everyone was thinking the same thing:_ Please come back soon, Lucy. _

* * *

_**With Lucy and Laxus...**_

"I need fresh air!" Lucy complained. "I'm going to suffocate in this hospital room!" Lucy was tired of sitting in the hospital bed and was bored out of her mind. The nurse was hesitant at first, but then said, "Fine, but you'll have to use a wheelchair because we don't want your stitches to open up." Lucy pumped her fist into the air and exclaimed, "Yosh! Thank you!" The nurse helped Lucy into the wheelchair and started her pushing her out of the door when Laxus nearly crashed into them.

"What the-" Laxus started, but was interrupted by the nurse who said, "Oh, I'm glad your here!" Please bring Miss Heartfilia outside for a bit. Come back in an hour!" Before Laxus could argue, the nurse was already off to help other patients. Lucy looked at Laxus and said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's get out of here!" Laxus muttered something that sounded a lot like 'stupid brat' but pushed Lucy outside.

As soon as they exited the hospital, Lucy breathed in deeply and smiled. "Y'know, it looks creepy when you smile like that to yourself," Laxus said. A vein popped out on Lucy's forehead and she growled, "Shut up!" Laxus snickered.

He pushed Lucy around for a bit, and then they decided to stop at a café. They each ordered a drink. "By the way," Laxus said, "About that mission with the thugs. The reward was 110,000 jewels. I get 100,000, and you get 10,000." Lucy slammed her empty coffee cup on the table. "No way! That's so unfair!" she argued. "I deserve way more than that!" Laxus stroked his chin, pretending to think. "Hmmm... I wonder who ever so kindly is letting you tag along with him." Lucy sighed in defeat and muttered, "Fine, but this is only because you're letting me tag along with you." Laxus smirked, satisfied that he won the battle.

They were about to leave the café when they heard sniffling. Lucy turned her head and saw Yukino sitting alone at a table in the corner. Lucy remembered that Yukino was kicked out of her guild, and felt sorry for her. Suddenly, a brilliant idea popped into Lucy's head. She leaned over to Laxus and whispered, "Let's let Yukino join us!" Laxus was going to refuse, but Lucy already made her way to Yukino. "Hi!" she greeted cheerfully. Yukino lifted her head. "Lucy-sama?" She was surprised to see Lucy.

Lucy waved her hand and said, "No need for the 'sama'. Lucy is fine. I came here to ask if you wanted to join me and Laxus on out journey. What do you say?" Yukino wiped away her tears and smiled. "Really? You wouldn't mind?" she asked.

"Of course I mind! There's no way I'm gonna let you join us. One annoying brat is enough, but two? No way!" Laxus interrupted.

Lucy shot Laxus a glare. "You idiot! Can't you see that she needs us? She has no where else to go!" she yelled.

"I couldn't care less about her and her needs!"

"You heartless moron!"

"You sensitive drama queen!"

"Where the heck did that insult come from!?"

"I have no idea, but any insult suits you!"

Lucy turned to Yukino and forced a smile. "Excuse us, Laxus and I need to have a talk." Yukino nodded in understanding.

Lucy pulled Laxus in close and growled, "Look, I don't care what you say, but Yukino is joining us no matter what you say!" Laxus knew that there was no point in arguing now. There was no way Lucy was going to change her mind. He huffed and said, "Fine." Lucy beamed and exclaimed, "Arigato!" She rushed off to Yukino and told her that she could join them. _Yeesh, that girl must be bipolar,_Laxus thought.

Yukino bowed to Laxus and said, "Thank you very much, Laxus-sama. I am very grateful for your kind actions." Laxus shrugged and said, "Yeah, whatever." Lucy glared at Laxus, but turned her attention to Yukino. "You don't have to be so polite, Yukino. We're now a team, after all!" Lucy told her. Yukino beamed and exclaimed, "Yes, we are!"

~Time Skip (After Lucy is released from the hospital)~

"Hmmm..." Lucy hummed. "Since we're a team, we need a team name!" The newly former was currently walking along the paths in Red Cedar Village. "Maybe if we combine Fairy Tail and Sabertooth..." Yukino said.

"Sabertail?" Lucy suggested.

"Fairytooth..." Yukino murmured.

"Tooth Fairy!" Lucy exclaimed. "We can be called the Tooth Fairies!"

"HELL NO!" Laxus yelled.

Lucy giggled. "We're just kidding around, Laxus," she assured him. Laxus just grunted in response.

Yukino and Lucy huddled together and brainstormed a list of ideas for names.

* * *

**And that is the abrupt ending to my chapter. **

**Do you know why? **

**I NEED IDEAS FOR TEAM NAMES! **

**So please give me ideas in a review! **

** Arigato!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi~! Sorry for the late update.. Anyhow, I have made myself a goal: Upload at least one new chapter every two weeks! Hopefully I can do it.**

**I absolutely NEED to say: THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO FOLLOWED, FAVORITED, AND REVIEWED, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO GAVE ME A TEAM NAME IDEA! :D**

**Many people wanted Sabertail, Saber Fairies, and Celestial Lightning. I'm VERY sorry, but I didn't choose those. I forgot to tell you guys, but their identities would be kept a secret, so the names that were listed before were a bit too obvious for who they were. Once again, I'm very sorry to disappoint those who wanted one of those names. :(**

**I would like to thank Archangel-Angelo for giving me the idea of combining the names! Because of you, I came up with a team name! Arigato! **

**Also, I apologize if me making up fake keys annoys any of you guys. I might do it more in the future, but I'm not very sure.**

**Anyways, now that I finally managed to shut up, on with the story! :D**

* * *

Lucy, Yukino, and even Laxus worked together to think of a team name. After much contemplating, Lucy snapped her fingers and exclaimed, "Heartdreria!" (A/N: Heartdreria is pronounced 'heart-dreary-ah') Laxus and Yukino both responded with a, "Huh?"

"Let me explain," Lucy said. "I came up with Heartdreria from our last names. The 'heart' obviously comes from my last name, Heartfilia. The 'dre' is from Laxus's last name, Dreyar, and the 'ria' is from Yukino's last name, Aguria." Yukino nodded and said, "That sounds great, Lucy!"

Laxus, on the other hand, said, "What!? That's no good! First of all, it sounds girly and sorta creepy too. Second of all, how come YOUR last name is first and the majority of the name? I think you're being unfair."

Lucy put her hands on her hips. "I'M being unfair!?" she demanded. "If anyone, it should be YOU who's unfair! YOU are the greedy jewel hog! Not me! Besides, why do you want YOUR name to be the biggest part? That's just selfish!"

"MY name should be the biggest part," Laxus shot back, "because I'M the team leader!"

"What makes YOU the team leader!?"

"I'M the team leader because you and whitey are tagging along with ME!"

"That doesn't make you team leader!"

"Yes it does!"

"U-um..." Yukino murmured, "maybe we can do Drefiria (A/N: Drefiria is pronounced 'dreff-eerie-ah')?"

Laxus and Lucy stopped arguing and thought about Yukino's suggestion. "That's brilliant!" Lucy praised. Laxus liked it, but, of course, didn't show it. "I guess it'll pass," he muttered.

Lucy glared at Laxus, clearly annoyed at his attitude. They started glaring at each other, and you could practically see the lightning zapping between their eyes. "Just curious, but how are we going to earn money?" Yukino asked, interrupting their glaring contest. Laxus (reluctantly) stopped glaring and answered, "We'll basically be a traveling group that takes random jobs. Almost like an independent guild. And since we're on this topic, we need to make fliers to promote our team."

"All right," Lucy said. "We can make them after we book a room at a hotel." After they finished the said task, Yukino and Lucy began creating the fliers. Laxus disappeared off to somewhere unknown and the two girls didn't notice until he was long gone. For once, Lucy didn't mind Laxus not helping because she didn't want him to ruin the fliers with his horrible art skills.

_**Where Laxus is...**_

Laxus knew that Lucy and Yukino needed weapons, so he was walking through Red Cedar Village, looking for suitable shops. He saw 'Stellar Wishes' (the same shop Lucy was in a few days ago) and walked in. Looking through racks of magical objects, he came across an item called a 'Key Blade', which was a different type of celestial key that could transform into any kind of blade (knives, daggers, swords, etc). Laxus bought it for Lucy. He spotted a celestial whip that was just like the one Lucy had, except it was a bit shorter than a normal one. Knowing Lucy would throw a tantrum if he didn't get something for Yukino, he bought that too.

Laxus brought the two items to the counter, ready to pay. "That'll be 100,000 total, sir," the cashier said. Laxus grimaced. There goes all the jewels I just earned, he thought. But he knew it was necessary to buy he two girls weapons. After he paid and left 'Stellar Wishes', he went to a clothing shop and bought three black hooded cloaks. Then he headed back to the hotel.

When Laxus was outside their room door, he heard Lucy and Yukino talking, so he decided to eaves drop.

"Why did you temporarily leave Fairy Tail, Lucy?"

There was a slight pause.

"Well, you see, I was replaced by someone else on my team. I think it was because I'm really weak, so I decided to leave the guild for a few years to train."

"You're not weak, Lucy. In fact, I think you're the strongest celestial mage there is! You shouldn't put yourself down like that."

"Thanks, Yukino. I guess I shouldn't."

"Anyhow, did you plan on training with Laxus?"

"Heck no! He was the last person I expected to see. I just bumped into him by chance. Since I didn't really want to spend my years of training alone, I asked if I could tag along with him. Having someone, even if it's Laxus, as company is better than no one."

"I understand. By the way, I still am very thankful to you for letting me join you guys. I don't what I would have if you didn't invite me."

"It's no biggie. I'm glad I spotted you. I'm sure my training will be a lot more fun now that you're here."

"Out of curiosity, what do you think of Laxus?"

"Hmmm... Well, even though he can be a huge selfish jerk,-" Laxus gritted his teeth, "-I'm sure he's a nice guy inside." That almost caused Laxus to burst out laughing. Nice guy inside? What was Lucy thinking? Having enough fun eaves dropping, Laxus finally walked into the room. "Oi, brats, I got you some stuff," he said. He tossed the bag with the purchased items on one of the hotel beds. "The Key Blade's for blondie and the whip is for whitey. Each of you gets a cloak."

Lucy pulled the Key Blade out of he bag. "Aww, thanks Laxus! This is really kind of you!" She turned to Yukino. "See? I told you he's a nice guy inside." Laxus scowled at Lucy's comment. Yukino held her new celestial whip and bowed to Laxus saying, "Thank you very much, Laxus!" Lucy picked her cloak up. "By the way, what are these cloaks for?" she asked.

"It's to keep our identities hidden," Laxus replied. "We wouldn't want anyone from Fairy Tail or Sabertooth recognizing us."

"You have a point there," Lucy agreed. She put her cloak on and looked in the hotel room's body mirror. "Plus, it looks pretty fashionable!"

"Pfft! That's all you care about? What a fashion fanatic!"

"Shut up! I take back what I said about you being nice inside!"

"Good! I don't wanna be some nice and fluffy cream puff or something!"

"You... You're such an idiotic moron!"

"And you're some yelling maniac who needs to be loud every second of her life!"

Suddenly, Laxus and Lucy both started floating in the air. "What the-" Laxus began. Then his feet were in the floor again. Lucy also stopped floating. They turned to Yukino, who was holding Libra's key. Next to her was a tall, slender woman with a scale/balance object in each hand. Now that all attention was on her, Yukino started fidgeting. "S-sorry, I just wanted you guys to stop fighting," she explained, also returning Libra back to the spirit world at the same time. Lucy scratched the back of her head. "No," she said, "It should be us apologizing. If you didn't stop us, we'd probably be arguing until we're both old."

The semi-quiet moment was ruined when Laxus announced, "All right, now that blondie and I stopped arguing (thanks to whitey), it's time for training!" Lucy and Yukino were both unsettled at Laxus's eagerness for their training.

5 hours later...

Lucy laid on the grassy ground of Red Cedar Forest, panting heavily. Yukino was beside her, doing the same. Laxus, however, was standing on top of a boulder, laughing his head off. "That what hilarious!"he shouted, still laughing. A vein appeared on Lucy's forehead. "You moron!" she yelled. "That could have gotten us killed!"

When they began their training at first, Laxus only made them do normal physical exercises, like running long laps, push ups, weight-lifting, etc. That took about two hours. Then for another two hours, they focused on magic and weapons. Yukino and Lucy were progressing in skill with their celestial whips, and Lucy learned all the basics to her Key Blade. The last hour, however, was Laxus's special surprise hour. He led the two girls into a cave, claiming they needed to improve their night-vision. They obeyed him, believing what he said (Lucy had NO idea how she managed to believe that stupid liar). But they didn't expect him to lead them right into a bear's den!

When Lucy and Yukino got far enough into the cave, Laxus smirked and lightly zapped the bear the with his lightning. That was enough to wake it up. The second it snapped its eyes open, it roared and started running after Lucy and Yukino (Laxus hid behind some large rocks so the bear wouldn't notice him). The ferocious beast chased the two girls across Red Cedar Forest for almost an hour until it was bored with chasing them, so then it went back to its cave.

So that was what led to Lucy and Yukino's exhaustion and Laxus's unstoppable laughter. "You... Should... Have... Seen... Your... Faces!" Laxus said, between fits of laughter. "Your eyes... Were practically... Bulging out... Of your head... With fear!" He pretended to imitate them, causing himself to look like a fish.

Lucy laughed at him, which made Laxus unhappy because be was the only one who was supposed to have the laugh. "Ha! You look like a fish!" Lucy mocked. "Next time Happy sees you, even he will be able to beat you because he'll be so desperate to eat you!"

"Shut up, blondie! Next time Happy sees you, he'll want to eat YOU because I was imitating YOU!"

"No way! Happy likes me too much, so he'll eat you instead!"

"He won't even try eating me because I'm all muscle! Happy will eat you because you're just a blob of fat!"

"I am NOT a blob of fat! Look at how skinny I am!"

"Oh yeah? Then how come Happy is always complaining how heavy you are?"

"Happy only does that to annoy me! He lies when he says that!"

"How are you so sure he's lying? For all I know, he could be telling the honest truth!"

(Back at the guild, Happy is having a sneezing fit. To his dismay, Carla is staying away from him, saying things like she doesn't want to catch his cold.)

"'For all I know'? You don't even know anything, so you can't say that!"

"I think you forgot that YOU'RE the dumb blonde, not me!"

"For your information, I was the one who found out Mavis's grave's location back at Tenrou Island!"

Yukino just sat there, watching the two blondes bicker back and forth. Much to her surprise, their argument to so intense that they started wrestling. In fact, it was Lucy who lunged at Laxus first, catching him off guard. They rolled around on the grass, both trying to defeat the other. Sadly, Lucy failed miserably. Laxus grinned triumphantly. "Ha! I, the amazing Laxus, beat you, the dumb Lucy!" he announced proudly.

Wanting badly do smack that proud grin off his face, Lucy spat back, "Even though you beat me, I'm pretty weak. It doesn't take much to bring me down. So if you're that proud about defeating me, that means you're pretty weak too." Lucy succeeded in her goal. Laxus's triumphant grim was replaced with a deep scowl. Unable to think of a good comeback, he plainly zapped Lucy with lightning.

"Ow! That hurt, you jerk!" she yelled.

"Exactly what I was aiming for, blondie!" he yelled back. "Anyways, now that you're done with training, go back to the hotel. Then you and whitey can go put up those fliers you made."

Lucy huffed but did as she was told. Yukino followed closely behind. And Laxus... he disappeared for the second time. But once again, Lucy didn't mind because it gave time for her and Yukino to have a conversation.

"Hey, Lucy," Yukino started. Lucy looked at her, motioning for her to continue. "Why do you and Laxus always fight? Even though you seem to hate him, you still travel with him. You guys actually kind of act like a married couple..." The last statement was more of an afterthought.

Lucy turned slightly pink but nevertheless shouted, "Are you out of your mind? There is NO way we're like a married couple! Absolutely NO way!"

Yukino chuckled. "All right, all right. Whatever you say, Lucy. Let's just get back to the hotel. We need to get those fliers up," she said.

Once they got to their room, Lucy picked up the stack of fliers. "Okay," she said. "There are 30 fliers in all. We can each take 15." She handed Yukino half of the pile. "Yosh, let's go!" Lucy enthusiastically exclaimed. Yukino cheerfully nodded, displaying her eagerness to get started. The two celestial mages walked out of the hotel room, hoping they would be successful in their promotion of their group.

* * *

**Sorry about the bad ending! I hope you liked the chapter anyways..**

***Sigh* The disadvantage of writing a story on your iPod is that you can't tell how long or short your chapter is because the screen is so tiny! :(**

**Also, sorry if you don't like the name "Drefiria". I'm thinking of creating a symbol for them, but I'm not really sure. If you have any ideas, then please tell me!**

**I'm open to constructive criticism, but just please don't be mean. **

** REVIEW! :3**

**Okay, until next time! Bye!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Omigosh! Time passed so quickly! I'm sooooooo sorry I haven't updated in a long while! Looks like I couldn't achieve my goal after all. T^T**

**I decided not to make a symbol for Drefiria. I hope I haven't disappointed any of you because of that.**

**Sorry, but I'm not doing review replies this time because I don't have the time right now and I have school tomorrow. (NOOOO! SCHOOL!) **

**Personally, I don't really like this chapter. :/ But I hope you will!**

**Btw, some paragraphs aren't indented while others are because I wrote some of this chapter on my ipod touch.**

* * *

After leaving the hotel to hang up fliers, Lucy and Yukino decided to split up because it would most likely be faster that way. Lucy stopped at a street lamp and taped the flier onto the pole. Grinning in satisfaction, she skipped away, looking for the next spot to hang up another one. What she didn't notice was a pair of lustful eyes watching her every move.

**_~Time Skip: After Lucy finished hanging up fliers~_**

"Yay, I'm done!" Lucy cheered to herself. Suddenly, she was grabbed from behind. One rough hand pinned her arms together and another covered her mouth, preventing Lucy from screaming. The blonde thrashed around, trying to break free from the unexpected assaulter. "You'd better stop moving if you know what's best for you," a deep voice growled. Lucy stopped struggling, noticing the dangerous tone in the man's voice.

A blindfold was tightly tied over her eyes, rendering her blind. Then a ball gag was shoved into her mouth and the strap was fastened around her head. Lucy blindly fumbled for her keys, but heard a familiar jingle. "If you want your keys or your whip, you won't get 'em 'cause I've got 'em," the man said. Even though Lucy couldn't see him, she could sense the smirk in his voice. "Now why don't you be a good girl and stay still. Don't worry. I won't hurt you. Too much."

Rough, scratchy rope was tied around her arms and legs. The man wrapped them together very tightly and messily tied knots at the ends. He paid no heed to whether it would leave red marks across Lucy's skin.

Lucy was thrown over the man's shoulder and he carried her to his truck. He roughly tossed her in the back and walked to the driver's seat. Lucy could feel the vibrations of the engine as the man started up the car and began to drive. Lucy whimpered, wanting this nightmare to be over. "Don't be sad. We're just gonna have some fun," her kidnapper 'soothed'. Lucy was extremely ashamed of herself. How could she be kidnapped so easily? No wonder she was replaced with Lisanna; she was so weak that she couldn't even defend herself.

The truck abruptly stopped and the man dragged Lucy out of the back and threw her over his shoulder again. Lucy was terrified. Where was this man taking her? She was suddenly tossed down onto something soft. "Welcome to my humble home," the man said with false kindness. "It's hidden nicely, so no one will find you. Right now, you're on my comfy bed. We'll just have some fun and then I'll ki- I mean then I'll take you back." Her clothes started being removed. Lucy panicked. What was the man going to do to her? She hoped she would still be a virgin after this. If there even was an 'after this'.

The man took off all of Lucy's clothes until she was left with nothing but under garments. Lucy curled up into a little ball, desperately trying to cover as much skin as possible. "Aw, there's no need to be shy. C'mon, show me your stuff," the man whispered seductively. "Shah ah! Wha do ah wa wih meh?! (Shut up! What do you want with me?!)" Lucy shouted, words made unclear by the ball gag. "Leh meh alo! Doh tuh meh! (Leave me alone! Don't touch me!)" The man ignored Lucy's angry outbursts and went so close to her that Lucy could feel his hot breath against her neck. He licked his way up her neck slowly. Lucy shivered in disgust and pulled away from him. She accidentally went too far and fell off the bed with a loud thump.

Lucy tried crawling away, which was extremely hard considering she couldn't see or move her arms and legs. The man snickered sinisterly and carried Lucy back onto the bed. "Don't try running away," he warned, pinning her down. He lowered his head, resuming what his was doing earlier. Once he made his way up to her face, he nibbled at her upper lip, which was wet and shiny due to excessive saliva. Lucy was horrified. This was the grossest man she had ever met!

Unable to think of anything else to do, she threw her head forward, knocking her head into his. The man immediately pulled away and groaned in pain, rubbing the new bruise on his forehead. Once again, Lucy tried escaping. The man growled in annoyance. "You're really starting to annoy me. Just take what I give you and no more fighting. There's no use 'cause you can't escape. Now lemme see those watermelon wonders of yours," he said, unclasping the hook of her bra. "This is gonna be fun."

**_To Laxus and Yukino..._**

Yukino was pacing around the hotel room. She had come back from hanging up fliers half an hour ago, but Lucy was still gone. Laxus was in the room too. When he disappeared earlier, he went out and bought a magical letter box, only they (meaning team Drefiria) would be using it for job requests.

**(A/N: Here's how it works. When a person wants to send a job to Drefiria, they write a request and then put it inside an envelope. On the envelope, they write Drefiria. Then the request magically gets transferred to the magical request box. When a new job arrives, the box signifies the owner by glowing.)**

Laxus grabbed a fistful of hair. "Argh! Where is that stupid blondie?" he demanded. "Don't tell me she's dumb enough to get lost. For Pete's sake, it's already the evening!" Yukino, though feeling very intimidated by Laxus, especially without Lucy around, defended Lucy. "I'm sure she has her reasons," Yukino reasoned. "Maybe she just decided to go shopping." Laxus pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly irritated. Suddenly, the request box (RB) started glowing.

Laxus walked over and opened it. He pulled the request out and opened the envelope encasing it. After unfolding it, Laxus read it:

**Request: There is a molester/murderer going around Red Cedar Village. He has already taken 21 women as victims. We would like you to find him and turn him in to the officials. Please go to Red Cedar Village's mayor for more information.**

**Reward: 10,000 jewels**

**P.S. The reason I didn't ask a guild for help is because I want to see whether your fliers are worthy of being hung up around our village. Also, I didn't want to use too much money. **

Laxus clenched his fists. "What the hell?!" he yelled. "What a cheapskate! There's no way we're doing this job! The reward isn't high enough!" He was about to tear the request in half when Yukino grabbed it out of his hands. "Wait!" she exclaimed. "He _did _say he wanted to know if our fliers were worthy enough to be hung up. Even if the reward is low, we should do it because this is our chance to prove that we're a strong and worthy group! If things go well, then our reputation will go up and we'll get more high-paying jobs!"

Laxus pondered about it for about a minute and finally gave in, saying, "Fine. We're leaving without Lucy. It's her own fault for not being here." Yukino reluctantly followed him out the door, knowing that she wouldn't be able to change his mind on this. Suddenly, Laxus stopped. "We'd better leave a note. Otherwise blondie will go on a rampage and travel the world to find us," he said. Yukino nodded in agreement – for the first sentence, not the second.

Laxus grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and started writing.

_Blondie,_

_Whitey and I left for a mission. You're probably throwing a tantrum right now because we left without you, but it's your own fault for not coming here sooner. We'll come back later with jewels – and you won't get any!_

_-Laxus_

He placed the note on the table and walked out the door – without stopping this time.

Soon after, the two members of Drefiria arrived at Red Cedar Village's town hall. A skinny weird-looking thing greeted them. "Why, hello there! You two must be the Drefiria mages. I'm Ian Suprikensey (**A/N: 'Ian' is meant to look like 'I am' and Suprinkensy is 'super skinny' all mixed up and without the spaces. So basically, his name is supposed to say 'I am super skinny.')**, Red Cedar Village's mayor!"

Laxus's jaw nearly dropped. "_You're _the cheapskate mayor?! Wait, no. Even before that, you're a _human_?! What kind of mutated creature is that thin?! Are you anorexic or something? Actually, not even anorexic people are _that _skinny! You look like you came out of a stick figure comic!"

Yukino awkwardly chuckled and said, "Um, sorry for his rudeness. He's just slightly disappointed about the low reward. Anyway, could you please give us more information about the job?"

The mayor nodded. "Of course, of course," he replied. "Witnesses have seen a mysterious truck drive into Red Cedar Forest. Although I do wonder why no one bothered to follow it…" He muttered the second part a bit darkly. Clearing his throat, he continued. "When we asked the victims' families to describe their missing loved ones, the victims were all big-chested, blonde women."

At the last statement, Laxus and Yukino suddenly realized that Lucy could have been kidnapped by the molesting-murderer. Yukino bowed and thanked the mayor before she and Laxus took off running to Red Cedar Forest. As they were running, they passed a light pole. On the ground around it was a blue hair ribbon. Laxus picked it up and sniffed it. Yup, it was definitely Lucy's. It had the unmistakable scent of strawberries and vanilla. **(A/N: I have no idea what Lucy's scent is. I'm just going along with what other aithors say in their stories.) **Laxus clenched his fists. "Come on, let's get going."

**_Back to Lucy…_**

As soon as the man unclasped her bra, Lucy used all of her strength and kicked both of her legs (since they were tied together) right between the man's leg. The man howled in pain, clutching the spot Lucy had just kicked. Lucy quickly tumbled off the bed. On the floor, she landed on something cold and metallic. She rubbed her thumb over it, feeling the carved-in design of a sword. Lucy instantly knew it was her Key Blade. She grabbed it and yelled, "Aim agger! (Flame dagger!)" The key transformed into the said weapon.

Lucy flicked her wrist backward, burning off the rope that bound her arms. The ropes thudded to the ground and Lucy did the same to the ropes around her legs. She then ripped off her blindfold and ball gag. Lucy sighed out in relief. Realizing she was wearing nothing but her panties, she grabbed a blanket and tied it around her body and then knotted it tightly above her chest. "Flame sword!" Lucy yelled. The short fiery blade instantly grew longer. She looked around the room, searching for the man. _Where did he go? _Lucy thought.

Hot, blazing pain suddenly hit her left leg like a cannon ball. Lucy cried out in agony and spun around. There, the man stood, one arm held out. His hand had steam coming from it. Lucy stared in confusion. What had just happened? The man swept his arm back and then thrust it forward. A huge glob of acid came shooting from his hand. "Betcha didn't know I'm an acid mage," the man snickered. Lucy jumped out of the sizzling attack's way.

Ignoring the throbbing in her injured leg, Lucy swung her flame sword at the man. Sadly, she completely missed. Lucy was about to attempt another attack at her enemy, when the man held up her spirit keys. "If you try to attack me," he warned, "I will use my acid to melt your precious keys." He put his hand dangerously close to the keys. Lucy growled angrily. "Give them back," she seethed. The man lightly shook her keys, creating a soft jingle. He was clearly mocking her, and she didn't like it one bit.

Lucy spotted her whip near the corner of the room. Immediately, she dove for it. She mentally cheered when she grabbed hold of it. Without giving the man any time to do anything, Lucy lashed her whip at her keys. The whip's tip coiled around her target. She jerked the whip back toward her. "What the!" the man yelled. Lucy gripped Loke's key, ready to summon him. "Open gate of-!" she started.

Suddenly, a huge bolt of lightning shot through the ceiling. Both of the people in the room screamed in surprise. Through the dust, Lucy could barely make out two figures; one big and muscular – definitely a male, and the other much shorter and skinnier. Then realization hit her. It was Laxus and Yukino! "You guys! I'm so glad you came!"

Yukino ran to Lucy. "Lucy!" she exclaimed, clearly relieved. "I'm so glad we found you! Oh! What happened to your leg?" She bent down to examine Lucy's acid-burnt leg. The skin was blistering badly, but the amount of blood surprisingly minimal. Nevertheless, Yukino ripped off a piece of the blanket that Lucy tied around herself and tied it around her wound.

While all this was going on, Laxus was battling the man. Actually, he was _playing_ with him. Laxus shot lightning bolts dangerously close his opponent, but purposely missed every time. He easily dodged all the acid globs, snickering whenever another one flew past him. Deciding he had his fun already, Laxus shot a final lightning bolt at the man, knocking him unconscious immediately.

Laxus turned around, facing the two girls. He resisted the urge to hug Lucy, seeing that she was safe. Instead, he showed his anger in place of his relief. "You idiot!" he yelled at Lucy. "How could you let him kidnap you so easily? You're such a weakling! Can't you even defend yourself!?" Tears threatened to fall from Lucy's eyes. She knew what Laxus had said what true, but it hurt to hear it from him. "Just shut up, Laxus!" Lucy snapped. "I already know that I'm weak! You don't need to rub it in!"

Taken aback by Lucy's response, Laxus only grunted and started walking out the door, dragging the man behind him. Yukino lent Lucy her long jacket that went to her mid-thigh. Lucy gladly accepted it, replacing her blanket with it. She held onto Yukino's arm for support, limping slightly.

**_~Time Skip: After the man was turned in and the reward was collected~_**

_You two did a great job! I will definitely tell about Drefiria to others! _Laxus grinned, remembering what Ian Suprinkensey had said when they collected their reward. He stuffed the 9,000 jewels – his share of the reward – into one of the many pockets of the coat that he always wore over his shoulders. Yukino was bit disappointed that she only got 1,000 jewels, but then again, she barely did any work.

Lucy sat on her bed, staring at the bandages on her left leg. After she got to the hotel, Yukino smeared a layer of some type of healing ointment on the injury, and then wrapped it with bandages. Lucy replayed in her mind what Laxus said earlier. _"How could you let him kidnap you so easily? You're such a weakling! Can't you even defend yourself!?"_ The anger and disappointment in his voice hurt Lucy more than her leg. It surprised Lucy how much she cared about what Laxus said to her.

Sighing, she plopped down onto the soft mattress and buried herself into the warm balnkets. "I'm going to bed," she mumbled into her pillow. Yukino raised her eyebrow questionably. "Already?" she asked. "It's only about 8 o'clock." Lucy nodded, and then dozed off surprisingly quickly. Laxus stretched his arms, cracking his knuckles at the same time. "You should also go to bed early," he said.

"Why?" Yukino replied.

Laxus smirked a little evilly. "Because," he said, "you two have more training to do tomorrow."

Yukino gulped, but obeyed. Laxus decided that he too should go to sleep. Not too long after, all three Drefira members were sound asleep in their comfy beds.

* * *

**Well, I hope you liked this chapter. **

**I used 'the man' in this chapter like a billion times. I didn't give him a name because he's not important to the rest of the story at all and will probably never appear ever again.**

**Also, I SUCK at writing fighting scenes, so I didn't include one in this chapter. Maybe I will write one later on.. -3-**

**I completely open to constructive criticism; just please don't be mean.**

**REVIEW! :3**

**Bye!**


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